HR Practitioners' Role in Leadership Development and Their Use of Tailoring Strategies

ABSTRACT Human resource development increasingly emphasizes strategic training and development activities to support the growth of leaders and their leadership skills. This underscores the growing importance of human resource (HR) practitioners, who are often responsible for overseeing leadership development (LD). Despite their central role, research on HR practitioners' experiences and perspectives on LD design and delivery remains limited. This study explores how HR practitioners organize and refine LD in various organizational settings. This qualitative study employes an exploratory design and uses inductive thematic analysis of 24 semistructured interviews conducted across diverse organizational settings in Sweden. HR practitioners use three main strategies to organize LD: (1) tailoring LD to the organizational context, (2) tailoring LD to leaders' personal needs and growth expectations and (3) tailoring LD activities to context and leaders. The effectiveness of these strategies, however, depends on the practitioners' organizational support and work conditions, which can enable or constrain HR efforts. HR practitioners play a multifaceted role in shaping LD, balancing organizational goals with individual growth. Successful implementation of tailored LD strategies requires not only professional expertise, but also adequate resources, organizational support and strategic involvement.